Negative Mood Changes Research Articles

Acute inflammation and negative mood: Mediation by cytokine activation

Inflammatory diseases are commonly associated with depressed mood. This association may be influenced by the production of proinflammatory cytokines. Accordingly, we assessed whether cytokine levels and mood (measured with the profile of mood states) could be altered by a mild, non-sickness inducing, acute inflammatory stimulus. Using a randomised placebo-controlled, double-blind design, 30 healthy male volunteers were injected with Salmonella typhi vaccine or placebo. Assessments of mood, symptoms of illness and temperature were made at baseline and at 1.5, 3, and 6 h post-injection. Plasma concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were assessed at baseline and 3 h post-injection. No significant symptoms of illness were reported in either group. Mood was more negative following injection in the vaccine than the placebo group, and the vaccine group experienced a 106% increase in IL-6 concentration. Negative changes in mood following injection were significantly correlated with increases in IL-6 production. No changes in TNF-α or IL-1Ra concentration were recorded in either group. It is concluded that S. typhi vaccination may be a useful model of mild inflammatory challenge, producing a significant transient cytokine-induced decrease in mood in the absence of any febrile response. Implications for depressed mood in physical illness are discussed.

Hostility in smokers with past major depressive disorder: Relation to smoking patterns, reasons for quitting, and cessation outcomes

We examined trait hostility in 85 participants in a clinical trial of cessation treatment for smokers with a history of major depressive disorder. Consistent with hypotheses, trait hostility, as indexed by the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale, was associated with greater smoking in social situations, greater expectations of being evaluated negatively by others because of smoking, and stronger extrinsic social reasons for quitting. Greater hostility was associated with significantly lower odds of smoking abstinence after treatment. Hostility was not associated significantly with smoking to manage negative affect, nor did it predict change in negative mood during treatment. Results suggest hostility may play an important role in smoking motivation and cessation outcomes among smokers with past major depression.

Mild acute inflammatory stimulation induces transient negative mood

Objective This study aims to assess the mood changes induced by mild acute inflammatory stimulation (typhoid vaccination). Methods Using a double blind study design, 26 healthy volunteers underwent baseline assessments of mood, financial strain and work stress and were randomised to injection of Salmonella typhi vaccine or placebo injection. Mood, symptoms and body temperature was assessed by a modified version of the Profile of Mood States at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 h post injection. Results Typhoid vaccination induces no increases in physical symptoms or temperature. Mood improved over the day in the placebo but not in the vaccine condition. Negative changes in mood following injection were correlated with chronic stress (financial strain) in the vaccination condition ( r=−.65, P<.025). Conclusion A mild acute inflammatory stimulus induces transient negative mood, and responses were modulated by chronic stress. Implications for depressed mood in physical illness are discussed.

Estradiol and the addition of progesterone increase the sensitivity to a neurosteroid in postmenopausal women

The aim of this study was to compare the pharmacodynamic response to a neuroactive steroid, pregnanolone, before and during different hormonal settings of postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT), using natural progesterone. A second aim was to investigate whether the response to pregnanolone was associated with cyclicity in negative mood symptoms during treatment. Twenty six postmenopausal women with climacteric symptoms were administered HRT in a randomized, double blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover study. The women received 2 mg oral estradiol (E(2)) continuously during two 28-day cycles and 800 mg of vaginal progesterone or placebo sequentially for the last 14 days of each treatment cycle. Pharmacodynamic response to pregnanolone was assessed before treatment, and during the last week of each treatment cycle, by comparing the effects of intravenous pregnanolone (3alpha-hydroxy-5beta-pregnan-20-one) on saccadic eye velocity (SEV), saccade acceleration, saccade latency and self-rated sedation. Throughout the study daily symptom rating scales were kept. According to the daily symptom rating scales, patients were divided into two groups; one group who displayed a significant variance in negative mood symptoms during HRT (cyclicity) and one group with no cyclical changes in negative mood symptoms during treatment. During treatment with either E(2) alone or E(2)+progesterone the response in saccadic eye movement parameters and in self-rated sedation to pregnanolone was enhanced compared to pretreatment values. The SEV, saccade acceleration and sedation responses to pregnanolone was also increased in women expressing cyclicity in negative mood symptoms compared to women with no cyclical changes in negative mood during HRT. In conclusion, during treatment with either E(2) alone, or E(2)+progesterone, pregnanolone sensitivity was increased. Women expressing cyclicity in negative mood symptoms were more sensitive to pregnanolone than women without symptom cyclicity during HRT.

Mood changes after cognitive testing in late middle-age: impacts of sex and habitual alcohol consumption

Men and women (50–67 years) completed drinking diaries and, on the basis of this, were divided into low (<2 units/day, 1 UK unit=8 g alcohol) and moderate (2–5 units/day) alcohol groups. They completed analogue rating scales of mood and bodily symptoms before and after two extended computerised cognitive tests. After the tests, the women showed significantly greater increases in self-ratings on the factors of anxiety and discontentment and felt significantly less alert than did the men. They also showed significantly greater increases in bodily symptoms of somatic anxiety and ratings of aggressive mood than did the men. There were no significant effects of alcohol or Sex×Alcohol interactions on the self-ratings, but the men showed significant positive correlations of alcohol and negative mood. On both the cognitive tests, there were significant Sex×Alcohol interactions because the moderate-drinking men performed worse than the low-drinking men, whereas the moderate-drinking women performed better than the low-drinking women. Thus, the middle-aged women responded much more than did the men with negative mood changes to the psychological stress of cognitive testing, although their cognitive performance was not worse.

Cortisol Responses to Daily Events in Major Depressive Disorder

Abnormal responses of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to stress are thought to be involved in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). The aim of the present study was to determine whether cortisol responses to negative and positive daily events in depressed participants (N= 47) differed from such responses in healthy participants (N= 39). We also examined the influence of clinical characteristics and possible gender differences in cortisol responses to events. Finally, the role of mood changes in mediating cortisol responses was assessed. Experience sampling methodology (self-reports of mood and events, with simultaneous saliva samples, 10 times each day for 6 consecutive days) and multilevel regression analysis were used to examine the relationship between events in daily life and salivary cortisol levels. In contrast to healthy participants, depressed participants showed no increase in cortisol following negative events. Responses were even more blunted in depressed participants with a family history of mood disorders. Although the effects of negative events on cortisol responses appeared to be mediated by changes in mood, negative affect tended to be less closely associated with cortisol levels in depressed participants. Depressed women showed larger cortisol responses to negative events than depressed men. Positive events had no effect on cortisol levels in either group. These results suggest that responses of the HPA axis to negative daily events and mood changes are blunted in MDD. Future studies will need to address whether these abnormalities disappear after clinical recovery.

Women’s Adaptation to Chronic Back Pain: Daily Appraisals and Coping Strategies, Personal Characteristics and Perceived Spousal Responses

Daily diary methodology was used to examine within- and between-person associations among pain appraisals, coping strategies, personal characteristics, perceived spousal responses and daily (30 days) changes in negative mood and pain for 88 women with chronic back pain. Multilevel models revealed that control appraisals and distraction and ignoring pain coping strategies were associated with same-day reductions in negative mood and pain; whereas catastrophizing appraisals and praying and hoping coping strategies were associated with an increase in negative mood or pain. With appraisals and coping controlled for, average within-day decreases in depression were associated with perceived control in one's life; increases in anxiety were associated with spousal distracting responses; and increases in pain intensity were associated with spousal punishing responses and pain interference.

A laboratory-based investigation of relations among video lottery terminal (VLT) play, negative mood, and alcohol consumption in regular VLT players

Thirty regular video lottery terminal (VLT) players were randomly assigned to 90 min of VLT play or a control activity (viewing a movie) to examine the impact of VLT play on alcohol use. Ratings of dysphoric mood were taken at baseline, midactivity, and postactivity. Alcoholic and nonalcoholic control beverages were available throughout. As hypothesized, those in the VLT condition were more likely to consume alcoholic than nonalcoholic control beverages (i.e., 73% drank alcohol and 20% drank control beverages), whereas no such preference for alcohol was observed in the movie control condition (i.e., 40% drank alcohol and 47% drank control beverages). Consistent with predictions derived from Steele and Josephs' [J. Abnorm. Psychol. 97 (1988) 196; Am. Psychol. 45 (1990) 921.] attention allocation model, VLT condition participants who drank alcohol showed increases in dysphoric effect over the course of testing. No such changes in negative mood were observed in VLT participants who did not consume alcohol or in movie control participants regardless of whether they drank alcohol. An observed temporal pattern of greater drinking during the early phase of VLT play indicated that the relation between alcohol use and dysphoric affect among VLT condition participants could not readily be explained by drinking to relieve dysphoria induced by VLT losses. Clinical and policy implications are discussed.

The influence of self-reported exercise addiction on acute emotional and physiological responses to brief exercise deprivation

Abstract Objectives : To examine the association between self-reported exercise addiction among competitive runners and their emotional and physiological response to a one-day deprivation from scheduled training. Design : A controlled experiment was utilised with random selection to exercise-deprived and control groups to examine the causal link between acute exercise deprivation and the presence and magnitude of withdrawal symptoms. Method : Club-level runners ( n =60) who had been training at least five times weekly towards a major regional competition (30 women and 30 men, average age: 24.2 years) volunteered to abstain from a one-day training fixture with less than 24-hours’ notice. All subjects completed the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Running Addiction Scale (RAS) and resting heart rate (RHR) measurements. From this group, 15 men and 15 women were randomly selected to miss the next scheduled training (exercise-deprived group), while the remaining 30 runners continued their training uninterrupted (controls). Both groups repeated POMS and RHR measures within 24 hours after the experiment. Results : The exercise-deprived group reported significant withdrawal-like symptoms of depressed mood, reduced vigour and increased tension, anger, fatigue and confusion (measured by POMS), as well as significantly elevated RHR, within 24 hours after the missed training session. The control group showed no changes in mood or RHR. More importantly, the observed negative mood changes and RHR response in the exercise-deprived group were moderated by self-reported exercise addiction. The sub-median RAS scorers experienced significantly less mood change and RHR shifts than the higher scoring half of the sample. Further, correlations between RAS scores and the magnitude of increases in tension, anger, confusion, depression and RHR ranged from 0.46 to 0.58. Conclusions : Self-reported exercise addiction in habitual exercisers moderates their emotional and physiological responses to a short-term controlled exercise deprivation, indicating that the magnitude of these responses may, in turn, serve as early markers of exercise dependence.

Impact of sign language interpreter and therapist moods on deaf recipient mood.

This study questions how the mood and affective reactions of the interpreter and the therapist affect the therapeutic process. Professional sign language interpreters are trained to be impartial conduits who neither add nor subtract from the primary dyadic relationship. This study revealed that despondent interpreter mood caused significant negative mood changes in the deaf participant even when the therapist mood was neutral/cheerful. Practicing psychologists need to consider the susceptibility of deaf clients to the nonverbal mood presentation of sign language interpreters and its implications on the therapeutic alliance.

Impact of sign language interpreter and therapist moods on deaf recipient mood.

This study questions how the mood and affective reactions of the interpreter and the therapist affect the therapeutic process. Professional sign language interpreters are trained to be impartial conduits who neither add nor subtract from the primary dyadic relationship. This study revealed that despondent interpreter mood caused significant negative mood changes in the deaf participant even when the therapist mood was neutral/cheerful. Practicing psychologists need to consider the susceptibility of deaf clients to the nonverbal mood presentation of sign language interpreters and its implications on the therapeutic alliance.

Negative mood regulation expectancies and sports performance: an investigation involving professional cricketers

Objectives: To test whether the performance of professional sports competitors is related to their expectancy of improving an unpleasant mood. Method: Two related studies of professional cricketers were conducted. In Study One, 46 players completed a battery of questionnaire scales, including a measure of negative mood regulation (NMR) expectancy. In Study Two, 19 participants from Study One took part in a time-sampling study in which they rated their mood on a pocket computer throughout a competitive match. Results: The results from Study One showed that NMR was significantly correlated with players’ batting average for the season. In contrast, reflexivity, well-being, and age were significantly associated with NMR but not with batting average. The results from Study Two showed that players who had greater NMR had significantly higher ratings for happy mood, smaller negative changes in happy mood, and greater batting averages during the match. Conclusions: Results of regression analysis supported an explanation of the association between NMR and performance in terms of a mediating effect of happy mood. Overall, the findings suggest that NMR expectancy can facilitate professional sports performance.  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The mediating effects of situational control on social support and mood following a stressor: a prospective study of dementia caregivers in their natural environments.

The present study examined, prospectively and within the context of stress experienced in the natural environment, whether situational control served as a mediator between perceived social support and caregiver's mood. Data came from baseline assessments of individuals participating in health promotion interventions for women caregivers. Participants were 49 female caregivers of dementia patients who monitored their own acute psychological states during the day. Results revealed that although the occurrence of a situational stressor increased negative mood, greater perceived support reduced the detrimental impact of a stressor on negative mood. Moreover, path analyses revealed that changes in situational control partially mediated the relationship between perceived support and stress-induced negative mood changes. However, changes in control did not serve as a mediator in analyses focused on happiness. Results suggest that caregivers with greater perceived support were less emotionally reactive to stress occurring in their natural environments because of, in part, sustained or increased situational control.

Negative mood changes during hormone replacement therapy: A comparison between two progestogens

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare side effects of medroxyprogesterone acetate and norethindrone acetate during postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy in women with and without a history of premenstrual syndrome. Study Design: Fifty-one postmenopausal women were randomly selected in a double-blind crossover study. The women received 2 mg of estradiol continuously during five 28-day cycles and 10 mg of medroxyprogesterone or 1 mg of norethindrone sequentially for 12 days of each cycle. Daily symptom rating scales were kept. Results: The women showed cyclic changes, with negative mood and physical symptoms culminating during the late progestogen phase and positive mood during the estrogen-only phase. Symptoms declined with time but remained after 5 months. Women with a history of premenstrual syndrome responded strongly to both progestogens. Medroxyprogesterone acetate induced less negative and more positive mood symptoms than norethindrone in women with no history of premenstrual syndrome. In both groups medroxyprogesterone caused more physical symptoms than norethindrone. Conclusion: The addition of medroxyprogesterone to estrogen is preferable to norethindrone with respect to mood symptoms in women without a history of premenstrual syndrome. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 2000;183:1419-26.)

Emotion and pulmonary function in asthma: reactivity in the field and relationship with laboratory induction of emotion.

We investigated the modulation of pulmonary function by mood states in the daily life of asthmatic patients and nonasthmatic control subjects and its relationship to the airway effects of laboratory induction of emotion using films. Twenty asthmatic patients and 20 nonasthmatic control subjects participated in a laboratory session in which various emotions (ie, anxiety, anger, depression, happiness, elation, contentment, and neutrality) were induced by films. Respiratory resistance (Ros) was measured by forced oscillation. After this session, participants kept mood diaries, including regular spirometric self-assessments, for at least 3 weeks. Episodes of strong negative or positive mood were selected from these diaries and compared with conditions of relative affective neutrality. In asthmatic patients, negative mood states, and to a lesser degree positive mood states, were associated with a reduction in forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) compared with neutral states. These effects were not observed in nonasthmatic control subjects. Self-reports of arousal varied in a reciprocal manner with FEV1, whereas physical activity did not vary systematically between mood episodes. A moderate negative relationship between changes in FEV1 during negative mood episodes and changes in Ros during viewing of the depressing film was also observed in asthmatic patients. Pulmonary function of asthmatic patients is negatively affected by strong mood states in daily life. Airway effects of negative emotion induction, particularly depression, can predict changes in pulmonary function in response to negative mood in the field.

Melatonin treatment attenuates symptoms of acute nicotine withdrawal in humans

Nicotine withdrawlal is typically associated with negative changes in mood and performance, which often lead to relapse. We tested whether an oral 0.3-mg dose of melatonin administered 3.5 h after the nicotine withdrawal, and increasing circulating melatonin concentrations within the physiological range, affects the symptoms of acute 10-h (0800–1800 h) nicotine withdrawal in regular smokers. Self-reported ratings of mood, sleepiness, and cigarette craving were assessed hourly, using 17 visual analog scales (VAS). Computerized Four-Choice Reaction Time (FCRT) and Simple Auditory Reaction Time (SART) tests were used to assess performance every 2 h. Saliva samples were collected hourly, and salivary melatonin levels were measured using supersensitive radioimmunoassay. Compared with the placebo, melatonin treatment significantly reduced self-ratings of “anxious,” “restless,” “tense,” “irritable,” “angry,” “depressed,” “impatient,” and “craving for cigarettes.” Melatonin treatment did not significantly change the responses on the performance tests used. These data suggest that melatonin can help to counteract the acute effects of smoking cessation on mood.

Reconceptualizing pre-menstrual emotional symptoms as phasic differential responsiveness to stressors

Studies of emotional changes in the menstrual cycle have found very inconsistent patterns of complaints. One possible explanation for the inconsistency in findings may be that mood changes may occur through differential responding to external stressors at different phases. An experimental mood induction procedure and memory task was conducted pre- and post-menstrually with 17 women who were new attenders at a clinic for pre-menstrual symptoms and whose daily data fulfilled criteria for cyclical changes in emotional symptoms. There were differential phase effects of mood induction with suggestions of patterns of greater negative mood change (not explainable in terms of initial mood levels) pre-menstrually. In addition, memories recalled in this phase were rated as significantly less happy. There are tentative suggestions from this small study that women reporting cyclical PMS symptoms may respond to negative external events pre-menstrually with more negative mood states. This may support the utility of cognitive approaches in women complaining of menstrual cycle mood changes.

Intra-individual Change and Inter-individual Differences in Negative Mood States of Older Women

The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the stability and lability of negative mood from a health perspective. Negative mood factor structure was examined in order to evaluate intra-individual change. Few studies have addressed factorial invariance across individuals and across time. The sample was comprised of four women in their 60s and four women in their 80s. Short-term intra-individual change and inter-individual differences in negative mood were assessed with a replicated single-subject design. Participants completed items from the 8SQ questionnaire for 100 consecutive days. P-technique factor analysis was used to examine the structure of negative mood factors, which were than graphed to determine level change over time. The number of factors were consistent, however, the items comprising the factors were not consistent across all participants. Patterns of intra-individual change in the negative mood factor of “ fatigue” was found to be highly individualised.

Reciprocal limbic-cortical function and negative mood: converging PET findings in depression and normal sadness.

Theories of human behavior from Plato to Freud have repeatedly emphasized links between emotion and reason, a relationship now commonly attributed to pathways connecting phylogenetically "old" and "new" brain regions. Expanding on this theory, this study examined functional interactions between specific limbic and neocortical regions accompanying normal and disease-associated shifts in negative mood state. Regions of concordant functional change accompanying provocation of transient sadness in healthy volunteers and resolution of chronic dysphoric symptoms in depressed patients were examined with two positron emission tomography techniques: [15O]water and [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose, respectively. With sadness, increases in limbic-paralimbic blood flow (subgenual cingulate, anterior insula) and decreases in neocortical regions (right dorsolateral prefrontal, inferior parietal) were identified. With recovery from depression, the reverse pattern, involving the same regions, was seen--limbic metabolic decreases and neocortical increases. A significant inverse correlation between subgenual cingulate and right dorsolateral prefrontal activity was also demonstrated in both conditions. Reciprocal changes involving subgenual cingulate and right prefrontal cortex occur with both transient and chronic changes in negative mood. The presence and maintenance of functional reciprocity between these regions with shifts in mood in either direction suggests that these regional interactions are obligatory and probably mediate the well-recognized relationships between mood and attention seen in both normal and pathological conditions. The bidirectional nature of this limbic-cortical reciprocity provides additional evidence of potential mechanisms mediating cognitive ("top-down"), pharmacological (mixed), and surgical ("bottom-up") treatments of mood disorders such as depression.

Women’s satisfaction with birth control: a population survey of physical and psychological effects of oral contraceptives, intrauterine devices, condoms, natural family planning, and sterilization among 1466 women

User satisfaction and the physical and psychological effects of five commonly used contraceptive methods were investigated in a population survey among 1466 West German women. The focus was on effects attributed by current and past users to these methods, rather than objectively assessed effects, to shed further light on personal experiences that are highly relevant to the user but often remain unknown to prescribers and unreported in the medical literature. Within the overall sample, 1303 women were surveyed concerning their current or past use of oral contraceptives (OC), 996 regarding condoms, 342 with respect to intrauterine devices (IUD), 428 in regard to natural family planning (NFP), and 139 in relation to sterilization (respondents completed questions about each method used). It emerged that satisfaction was greatest with sterilization (92% of users), followed by OC (68% of ever users), IUD (59%), NFP (43%), and condoms (30%). Almost one in three NFP users had experienced an unwanted pregnancy during use of this method, as compared with one in 20 OC and condom users. The majority of users reported no mood changes during use of the methods studied. The percentages reporting negative mood changes (various items were scored) were up to 16% among OC users, 23% among condom users, and 30% among NFP users. The latter observations suggested that subjective side effects of a contraceptive agent on mood generally reflected, at least in part, the user’s sense of confidence in the method concerned (notably, with regard to efficacy and safety). Oral contraceptives, IUD, and sterilization had a broadly positive impact on sex life, whereas that of condoms was often negative. Whereas OC users often reported less heavy and painful menstruation (in up to 56% of cases), IUD were associated with heavier, prolonged, and more painful menstruation (in up to 65% of cases), as also was sterilization, although to a lesser extent (in up to 32% of cases). Overall, the study findings indicated that OC and sterilization had less negative impact on physical and psychological functioning than the other methods studied, in contrast to what the general public often believes.